The Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program supports a national network of medical research institutions working to improve the translational process. High-performing translational teams (TTs) are critical for advancing evidence-based approaches that improve human health. When focused on content-appropriate knowledge, skills, and attitudes, targeted training results in the substantial internalization of training content, producing new skills that can be applied to improve team outputs, outcomes, and benefits. More rigorous approaches to develop, test, and evaluate interventions are needed, and we used the Wisconsin Interventions in Team Science framework as a model to systematize our efforts. We designed, built, and tested a five-session TT Training Program for translational researchers. The 90-minute sessions were pilot-tested with 47 postdoctoral fellows and evaluated through a structured evaluation plan. Ninety-five percent of post-session survey respondents indicated that the content and skills provided would make them more effective collaborators, and one hundred percent would recommend the sessions to colleagues. Respondents’ scores increased from pretest to posttest for most learning outcomes. Refinements from participant feedback are described. This work provides a foundation for the continued evolution of evidence-based training programs in the CTSA environment.

To date, Ireland has been a leading light in the provision of youth mental health services. However, cognisant of the efforts of governmental and non-governmental agencies working in youth mental health, there is much to be done. Barriers into care as well as discontinuity of care across the spectrum of services remain key challenges. This editorial provides guidance for the next stage of development in youth mental care and support that will require significant national engagement and resource investment.

Executive dysfunction is a common consequence of acquired brain injury (ABI), causing significant disability in daily life. This randomized controlled trial investigated the efficacy of Goal Management TrainingTM (GMT) in improving executive functioning in patients with chronic ABI. Seventy patients with a verified ABI and executive dysfunction were randomly allocated to GMT (n=33) or a psycho-educative active control condition, Brain Health Workshop (BHW) (n=37). In addition, all participants received external cueing by text messages. Neuropsychological tests and self-reported questionnaires of executive functioning were administered pre-intervention, immediately after intervention, and at 6 months follow-up. Assessors were blinded to group allocation. Questionnaire measures indicated significant improvement of everyday executive functioning in the GMT group, with effects lasting at least 6 months post-treatment. Both groups improved on the majority of the applied neuropsychological tests. However, improved performance on tests demanding executive attention was most prominent in the GMT group. The results indicate that GMT combined with external cueing is an effective metacognitive strategy training method, ameliorating executive dysfunction in daily life for patients with chronic ABI. The strongest effects were seen on self-report measures of executive functions 6 months post-treatment, suggesting that strategies learned in GMT were applied and consolidated in everyday life after the end of training. Furthermore, these findings show that executive dysfunction can be improved years after the ABI. (JINS, 2016, 22, 436–452)

Emergency physicians often need point-of-care access to current, valid information to guide patient management. Most emergency physicians do not work in a hospital with a computerized decision support system that prompts and provides them with information to answer their clinical questions. Searching for answers to clinical questions online, especially those related to diagnosis and treatment, can be challenging, in part because determining the validity and clinical applicability of the results of individual studies is beyond the time constraints of most emergency physicians. This article describes currently available point-of-care sources of evidence-based information to answer clinical questions and provides the access information for each.

Purpose: The 2007 Institute of Medicine report entitled Emergency Medical Services at the Crossroads identified a need for the establishment of physician subspecialty certification in emergency medical services (EMS). The purpose of this study was to identify and explore the evolution of publications that define the role of the physician in EMS systems in the United States.

Methods: Three comprehensive searches were undertaken to identify articles that define the physician's role in the leadership, clinical development, and practice of EMS. Independent reviewers then evaluated these articles to further determine whether the articles identified the physician's role in EMS. Then, identified articles were classified by the type of publication in order to evaluate the transition from a non-peer reviewed to peer-reviewed literature base and an analysis was performed on the differences in the growth between these two groups. In addition, for the peer-reviewed articles, an analysis was performed to identify the proportion of articles that were quantitative versus qualitative in nature.

Results: The comprehensive review identified 1,504 articles. Ninety articles were excluded due to lack of relevance to the US. The remaining 1,414 articles were reviewed, and 194 papers that address the physician's role within EMS systems were identified; 72 additional articles were identified by hand search of references for a total of 266 articles. The percentage of peer-reviewed articles has increased steadily over the past three decades. In addition, the percentage of quantitative articles increased from the first decade to the second and third decades.

Conclusions: This comprehensive review demonstrates that over the past 30 years an evidence base addressing the role of the physician in EMS has developed. This evidence base has steadily evolved to include a greater proportion of peer-reviewed, quantitative literature.

There is a growth in the demand for clinical practice to be evidence based. Recent years have seen a rise in the number of randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTS). Such trials while acknowledged as the gold standard for evidence can be difficult to perform in surgical specialities. We have recently identified a low proportion of RCTS in the otolaryngology literature. Our aim was to identify any trend in the number of published RCTS within the ENT literature over a 30-year period and to identify which areas of our speciality lend themselves to this form of study design. A Medline search of 10 prominent journals published between 1966 and 1995 was performed. Two hundred and ninety-six RCTS were identified. Only five were published before 1980. Two hundred (71 per cent) of RCTS were in the areas of otology and rhinology. An encouraging trend is seen in RCTS within ENT literature.